


Seasons

by stormy_blue_skies



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, I'm probably not very good at angst so feel free to bully me lol, M/M, NOT Hurt/Comfort, Zukka angst, more like hurt/comfort/hurt, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:34:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26073517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy_blue_skies/pseuds/stormy_blue_skies
Summary: It was the midst of a cold, snowy Winter when Zuko first met Sokka. Grey clouds rumble above as his ship crashes into the glacier that held the Southern Water Tribe.Their first interaction is a bad experience but memorable all the same. Zuko sees the water tribe warrior, still just a teenager, with his hair in a wolftail and black, grey, and white war paint spread evenly over his face. He hates to admit it, but he is infatuated. Curious.The boy is fearless and determined, and managed to get a hit on Zuko, which is impressive. Not that the stubborn Fire Nation Prince would admit it.The image of the warrior’s face is a ghost in Zuko’s mind for a while afterward, taunting him but fascinating him all the same.They met in the Winter.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	Seasons

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: This fic contains major character death. Please don't read if it could be triggering or upsetting! Stay safe lovelies!

It was the midst of a cold, snowy Winter when Zuko first met Sokka. Grey clouds rumble above as his ship crashes into the glacier that held the Southern Water Tribe.

Their first interaction is a bad experience but memorable all the same. Zuko sees the water tribe warrior, still just a teenager, with his hair in a wolftail and black, grey, and white war paint spread evenly over his face. He hates to admit it, but he is infatuated. Curious.

The boy is fearless and determined, and managed to get a hit on Zuko, which is impressive. Not that the stubborn Fire Nation Prince would admit it. 

The image of the warrior’s face is a ghost in Zuko’s mind for a while afterward, taunting him but fascinating him all the same. 

They met in the Winter.

—

It’s nearing Spring when Zuko infiltrates the north pole. In the frigid, icy waters, he uses his bending to warm himself and escape through the ice above. 

Ever since he first saw the water tribe warrior, he’d been a shadow of a thought in the back of his mind. It was infuriating. Zuko doesn’t know what to do with himself when a boy is always in the corner of his mind, a constant “what-if,” an unknown variable that he refuses to explore.

Katara beats him in their duel and got the Avatar back. But for some reason, the group saves his life, bringing him on their air bison back to the tribe. He passes out, but when he awakes he is very close to the water tribe warrior. Zuko hates the tingly feeling in his stomach, but keeps still and pretends not to be awake. 

They parted near the Spring.

—

The sun warms the earth when he reaches Ba Sing Se.

The water tribe warrior, Zuko has learned, is called Sokka. It’s a strange name, in his opinion, but nice nonetheless.

Zuko hasn’t been able to erase Sokka from his mind. He’s not sure why, if something is wrong with him. It seems the most likely scenario. 

Zuko and Iroh are in Ba Sing Se now, refugees. Zuko hated it. He hates having to be someone he isn’t, hates having to be just another guy in a tea shop. But nonetheless, it is safe. 

But of course, the avatar and his group are there. 

He’s come across them a few times but, aside from freeing the bison, they haven’t interacted much. It seems they are avoiding each other, perhaps even helping a bit. But when his sister attacks and conquers the city for the Fire Nation, Zuko has a choice to make.

Zuko betrayed them in the Spring. 

—

The eclipse is in the early Summer, when Zuko makes the choice to join the avatar and stop his father from conquering the world and creating a place of war. 

He sets off on his own to find their group, and eventually finds them at the Western Air Temple where his own uncle took him after he was banished. The thoughts and memories send a shiver down his spine.

Zuko sees them and introduces himself, finding only hatred. He deserves it.

He leaves and beats himself up about it, wishing that just once, maybe he could do something right, make a friend, or help someone. 

It takes awhile, and a lot of groveling, but they slowly begin to accept Zuko. He doesn’t know what to think, but he’s grateful. 

And terrified.

Sokka begins to tease him and joke around, which Zuko doesn’t expect, but it’s a relief that he’s not apprehensive anymore. And the huge grin that breaks out on Sokka’s face when he cracks a joke is like a breath of fresh air in a forest, the sun shining through the canopy of trees. It’s warm. 

He made a friend in the Summer.

—

After a few weeks, Zuko and Sokka pull a prison break. 

He meets Hakoda, Sokka’s father, and understands him as a kind, strong man who loves his family. He’s a good person, and very helpful in their escape.

Then he meets Suki, a wonderful, badass girl who saved their lives multiple times, who also happens to be Sokka’s girlfriend.

Zuko pushes the lonely ache in his chest away. After all, he’s made amazing, kind friends. So why now is he feeling so dull, so empty, so hollow? He wants to claw out this horrible feeling. He’s felt it before, but not this way. 

But later that night, he sees Suki and Sokka holding hands and resting on each others’ shoulders, and he understands, retiring to bed early and thanking the spirits he’s a silent crier.

He had his heart broken late Summer.

—

Zuko is crowned Firelord in the early Autumn.

His father has been defeated and the war is over. He is hopeful for an era of peace and hope, and tells himself the longing in his heart is for the good of the nation, the lives of the people he has vowed to protect. But he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t worse the farther from Sokka he was. 

Sokka and Suki are happily together. He’s happy for them, but feels alone. He hates himself for it, for wanting something he can’t have, someone who doesn’t want him, not that way. 

But he can’t focus on himself. He needs to rebuild the lives of his country and create a better place. He’ll just do it with a hole in his heart.

He tries to forget in the Autumn.

—

Years later, and gentle flakes of snow fall from the sky. 

Zuko has mostly rebuilt the Fire Nation. Now his reign is much simpler, laws and whatnot. He brings people together and gives freedom and light.

He keeps in touch with the rest of the group. They visit each other often, and send letters even more, often multiple in a week. Aang’s letters are brief and exciting, detailing his adventures as a young avatar. Katara talks about how well it’s going rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe and travelling with Aang. Sokka is rebuilding as well, also going on diplomatic trips to the Northern Water Tribe. He’s now the chief of the southern tribe, and has taken on a lot of responsibility. Suki is training more Kyoshi Warriors and loving it, helping with self defense and techniques. And Toph can’t write herself, but she has a scribe to send letters that she drafts verbally, detailing her adventures in opening a metalbending academy. 

Zuko misses them all so much, but begins to feel whole, knowing that they’re doing what they love.

He starts to heal in the Winter.

—

When he sees Sokka again, flowers bloom, painting the warm green hillsides with splotches of color and light. 

Sokka comes to visit on his own, and he and Zuko spend tons of time together. He helps the young Firelord with political issues, laws, and the sort. Zuko gets to remember just how amazing Sokka is, and rediscover why he fell in love with him a few years before. And even though he’s in close, kind quarters with the man, he feels farther away than ever. 

Sokka mentions that he and Suki mutually split, deciding they were better as friends, and Zuko hates himself for the lifting in his heart. 

They spend a few more days together, and one night as they’re walking to their rooms in the palace, Sokka asks Zuko if he can kiss him. 

It’s out of the blue but it feels so right. The kiss is sweet and chaste, and it feels like a dream. When they separate and go to sleep, Zuko’s heart is still pounding and his head rushing a million miles an hour, and he has to remind himself that it was real.

He falls in love all over again in the Spring.

—

Years pass, and the golden and red leaves paint the forests like a fiery sunset. Zuko proposes with a cerulean water tribe betrothal necklace and he and Sokka get married by the lake, warm leaves drifting down around them.

The ceremony is small but intimate, family and friends reuniting and celebrating. Zuko couldn’t be happier. 

He and Sokka are safe and sound in the Autumn.

—

They adopt a girl in the heat of the Summer a year later. A mischievous, playful child named Izumi. She’s the perfect match to her dads, kind and sweet but headstrong and intelligent. 

They love her more than life itself, and she loves them, knowing she’s safe and warm with them, and that they’ll always love her.

They bring another into their family in the Summer.

—

Years and years later, when Zuko’s dark hair has flecks of silver and Izumi is a young adult, the cold breath of Winter freezes the petals of the garden, and he sees Sokka for the last time.

He watches the life seeping out of his husband’s blue eyes like the Winter leeches the heat out of the Earth, and gives him a ghost of a kiss as he takes his last breath, shaking pale hands holding still brown ones. 

Tears fall from his cheeks for hours, maybe days, as he prays for it to all be a dream. The one he loved so much, his soulmate, gone, ripped away from him too young and to soon. 

It’s been decades since they first met, since Zuko fell in love.

And on another fateful day in the Winter, he breaks.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully it wasn't bad! I've never written atla angst before, so idk how well it turned out. But please give feedback in the comments! 
> 
> I love all of you!


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